Does the Bible Contradict Itself?

[spockrates]

Most people who care get taken advantage of, hence they develop this anti social attitude

Yes, but it is the rare (and admired) person who rises above such betrayal. For example, I admire Jesus for living out his own words:

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies[b] and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

(Matthew 5)

For while suffering during his execution, he prayed, "Father, forgive them. For they don't know what they are doing."

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Hmmm. Does it sound as though Jesus was contradicting the Old Testament?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?sea...on=NIV1984

:o

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MAT 27:46,50: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, eli, lama sabachthani?" that is to say, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" ...Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost."

LUK 23:46: "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, "Father, unto thy hands I commend my spirit:" and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."

JOH 19:30: "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished:" and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."

Spockrates, did you ever come up with an explaination for the 3 different versions of JCs' last words. The MAT and LUK verses could be reconciled as you pointed out earlier, but the one from JOH doesn't seem to be linked.

Regards

Grimesy

Grimesy:

To me, the context shows that Jesus said all three statements during his execution. His crucifixion was not quick, as this article from the Journal of the American Medical Association points out:

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx...eid=403315

The ancient Romans perfected the process to make the executed suffer for as long as possible, so as to deter others who were tempted to commit the same crimes. So Jesus had plenty of time to speak more than once during the excruciating torture (indeed, the word excruciating comes from the Latin for out of the cross, or something to that effect), despite that fact that he would have found it extremely difficult to catch his breath. Since none of the authors use the words, "Jesus last words were..." (or something similar) it's not at all certain that any of these statements spoken during his execution were his last statement. Earlier, I guessed that Luke recorded his last statement, for he adds the words, "and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." However, I'm not sure of this guess, either. Jesus might very well have said something else after the words Luke recorded, and before "he gave up the ghost". We simply don't have enough information from the texts to know with any degree of certainty.

That being said, I should add that for me, personally, it's not important what Christ said with his last breath. What matters is that what he said from his first breath on the cross, to his last was not contrary. For example, he did not say, "Father, forgive them. For they don't know what they are doing is wrong," and "Father, make them pay for what they've done to me! May they burn in Hell!" His words do not contradict each other--either on the cross, or at any point in his life. He was a man absent of any contradiction, which is a feat I don't think I'll ever achieve.